We frequently see articles about which players you wished we signed, or ranking best signings etc. but if you could prevent one player signing in our club's history from happening what would it be?
We're looking for those signings which had an entirely adverse effect not the punt on a foreign lad who turned out to be rubbish.
For me at Utd I was immediately drawn to a few:
Bosnich as Schmikes replacement - But this was actually a solid decision, he was a talented keeper and Premier League proven.
Sanchez - Unmitigated and expensive disaster but bizarrely hasn't altered the trajectory under Jose.
Veron - Always mentioned as a big money flop in those type of list articles but was actually pretty decent. Just didn't hit the heights we hoped for. Biggest damage was his forcing of Becks out of the team but I think he was always heading off to Spain anyway.
Fellaini - His signing heralded the introduction of a style of play at Utd under successive managers I'd never seen before but not in a good way.
This might be controversial (and bending the criteria slightly) but for me it was Wayne Rooney signing a 5.5 year contract in February 2014 at a cost of £85m for the 45 goals that followed before he left.
The greatest manager in the history of football's last major decision relating to personnel was to drop him from the squad. We could have sold him to Chelsea for cash plus one of Mata or David Luiz.
Instead we kept him and gave him a wage bump. In the process we hung onto a player declining technically, physically and statistically whose presence either prevented the use of Mata in his prime as a #10 or the development of our other strikers. Instead of refeshing our attack and building the team around new talent, managers had to find a way to keep him in the side due to his astronomical wages.
Our club's worst signing
posted on 13/11/18
Agree with the sentiments about Veron.
He’s labelled a chelsea flop too with people ignoring his injuries and personal issues (house got burgled and believe the were some family issues).
Whenever he played for us he looked a class act.
posted on 13/11/18
Moyeseh
posted on 13/11/18
You mean the declining Rooney that just got called up to England's strongest ever side since 1966 (who were playing in a garbage era). So England's greatest ever player has been called up again for England's greatest ever team? Fresh off the back of single handedly winning the world soccer league in America. Some decline.
posted on 13/11/18
is this a serious debate about the worst on the clubs history or do you really mean just since 1992.
There are a lot worse this club did before then.
posted on 13/11/18
Depends how we want to define and measure "worst"...
Do we simply mean 'worst player'? Do we mean 'worst' in terms of value/output?
If the former, there's a hell of a lot of players that could be mentioned.
If the latter, I can't help but look at Di Maria and - time will tell - but Lukaku, too.
posted on 13/11/18
75mln on an overweight CF who's 1st touch is worse than mine and now is isn't even good enough to just be a flat track bully seems pretty wasteful, even by Man united standards !
posted on 13/11/18
Bit like what Arsenal have done with Ozil.
Now lumbered with a player who dips in and out of games yet takes up £18m of their annual wage bill. Extremely talented player but not what you really want to build your team around. At least Rooney was a committed player for the most part, even if his talents were on the wane
posted on 13/11/18
Rooney was an absolute masterstroke signing. We had Everton over a barrel when you think of it. They should have asked for £50-60m in hindsight and he'd have still be worth every penny and then some.
His contract extension wasn't the greatest move obviously but overall he's given me some of the best football memories I will ever have. Wonderful player in his pomp.
posted on 13/11/18
comment by MBL. (U6305)
posted 4 hours, 1 minute ago
comment by blueinbarca (U3426)
posted 30 seconds ago
Fellaini!
How can anyone mention his name without laughing?
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Jose loves him.
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And Robb
posted on 13/11/18
Take your pick from any of these since SAF left.
1. Groot
2. Sanchez
3. Matic